Nyirenda warns against complacency

Zambia national football team coach Wedson Nyirenda says he will not allow complacency amhis players after they held South Africa to a 2-2 draw in the first leg, third round qualification match of the African Nations Championship (Chan) played at the Buffalo City Stadium in East London on Saturday.Nyirenda reckons that the two goals scored away from home gave his side slight advantage going into the second leg in Ndola, but cautioned against underrating South Africa.

South Africa had cruised to a 2-0 lead with goals in either half by Gift Motupa and Mario Booysen but Zambia equalized through Martin Phiri and Augustin Mulenga, who both scored their first goals for the senior national team, to claim a share of the spoils in the first leg.

“This result has given us more confidence and more impetus to go and finish the work at home. The two goals we have scored away will give us a good dimension in the home game. Having said that, we are not going to take that for granted because if we can score one or two goals away they can also do the same. So we are going to be more cautious in the next game,” said Nyirenda.

Nyirenda took time to appreciate the support given to the team at the stadium.

“We would like to thank our supporters here. They have shown us that we are really loved here. They have done a great job here. We were two goals down but they kept on chanting for us. Those are the Zambians we know. They diehard for their own. We applaud them because they gave us the extra energy,” he said.

The second leg will be played at the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium on Saturday, 19 August 2017 with kick off at 3:00 PM.